We know - and we’ve known since last episode - that this isn’t going to end up being such a big deal, because there won’t be any charters left to work! But it is a big deal to Francesca, who thinks she’s home free after finally getting Elizabeth off her team, and to Elizabeth, who is sobbing and pleading with Captain Lee and Francesca to stay. So we start out with a finale episode that doesn’t know it’s a finale episode, beginning with Francesca firing Elizabeth. But like everything else in this world, the season ending we deserved got cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, this episode built up a few plotlines that would’ve ended this season with a bang: the rift between Rachel and Francesca over Elizabeth’s firing, Rob’s continued assholery toward Izzy, James’s life post-Elizabeth, the new stew who would’ve replaced Elizabeth, and, of course, everyone’s COVID anxieties.

If this weren’t our Below Deck season-eight finale, I’d be spending all of this week waiting for the next episode.

Karma drama star plus full episodes 16